Planning critical to the future

Published: Saturday, February 9, 2013 at 7:28 p.m.

Last Modified: Saturday, February 9, 2013 at 7:28 p.m.

Coastal Louisiana is eroding and sinking. And the water level of the Gulf of Mexico is rising.

Those two continuing conditions make it necessary for coastal residents to think now about the future we face and to adapt to head off as many future dangers as we can.

South Louisiana has always been particularly vulnerable to hurricanes and tropical storms that hit the Gulf.

As our land has continued to sink, the water has continued to rise and our wetlands have washed away, even passing storms or sustained winds can threaten our homes and businesses with flooding.

We have taken some action against these forces, but not nearly enough.

“The levee system is not sufficient to protect our fragile coastal communities over the long term,” said Marco Cocito-Monoc, the Greater New Orleans Foundation’s director for regional initiatives. “The landscape along the coast is drastically changing, which threatens an entire way of life for the people who live and work there. Adaptation is essential.”

To that end, the foundation has commissioned a study by Baton Rouge’s Center for Planning Excellence looking at how coastal residents should adapt to the changes we’ve seen and those we expect in the decades to come.

Some of the adaptations we will need are already known to us.

We know, for instance, that we need an integrated approach to flood protection and coastal restoration.

If we can rebuild some of the natural protections the coast has long enjoyed and keep others from falling victim to erosion, we will significantly improve our chances of survival.

Levees to protect us from rising water also must be part of the equation.

So too must be efforts such as home elevations, things that make high water less destructive.

The main difficulty we have faced in the past has been apathy. Many people did not realize the dire state of our danger.

As more have come to realize the risks we face, we have been confronted with another challenge: There is simply so adequate supply of money to undertake the kinds of changes we need.

That could be changing as well.

The state has made some great strides in recent years, among them approving a preliminary 50-year plan aimed at protecting the coast and its residents from the water that is rising.

There is still little money for the plan, but the hope is that BP’s oil-spill fines can form part of the money it will take to get it started.

Beyond these large efforts, though, there will continue to be a need for smaller plans focused on individual communities.

Those are the focus of the study, and those will be crucial to our continued ability to live and work and thrive in south Louisiana.

We cannot tell for sure what the future will hold. But the more we plan for the challenges we will face, the brighter and more secure that future is likely to be.

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